[1925–1931 Bookbinding Sales Manager’s Memorandum Book for the National Library Bindery Co. Branch in Indianapolis].

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Bookbinding salesman’s memorandum book kept by Oscar Schnabel, Manager and later President of the National Library Bindery Co. of Indianapolis, a conglomerate with six binderies throughout the East and Midwest.

The book is extensive and alphabetically-arranged. It records librarians’ names and addresses for public and college libraries, mainly in Indiana, but also Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio. Regular Indiana college and university clients include De Pauw, University of Indiana (Bloomington), Perdue, St. Mary of the Woods, and Indiana University School Medicine.

Sales call data and notes pertain to binding books, magazines, and newspapers. They include prices quoted, last dates of orders, shipping price information, binding orders, binding repair orders, prospects for future work, library personnel changes, advertising campaigns, price lists left off, information on samples of binder’s cloth shown or requested, follow-up tasks and letters, etc.

The sales call notes often refer to “rubbings” or “rub offs.” These apparently refer to pencil rubbings of book binding spine titling made on onion skin paper, eight examples of which are laid in throughout the manuscript volume.

Among the few pieces of ephemera tipped or laid in are two brochures for National Library Bindery Co.: one a 1925 “Schedule of Prices” for binding books in a variety of formats and cloth and leather binding covers (this brochure tipped-in and in two pieces) and second, a laid in company brochure exclusively devoted to binding volumes of National Geographic Magazine “at a Bargain.”

The National Library Bindery Co. was founded in 1873 as Schnabel Bookbinding Company. The latter firm was begun by German immigrant Christopher A. Schnabel. His son, Oscar Schnabel, took over the running of the company in 1919 and greatly expanded operations. In 1925, the beginning year of this manuscript salesman’s memorandum book, the firm became part of the conglomerate National Library Bindery Co., joining the Ohio Library Bindery Company and the New England and Empire companies. Oscar Schnabel served as president of National Library Bindery Co. from 1927 to 1933. When the conglomerate broke apart, the Indiana branch continued as the National Library Binding Company of Indiana, Inc. and remains in business today.

Price: $650.00